Origins: Basketball

Basketball is my favorite sport of all time. Every other sport in my humble opinion is either too slow or too restricting. Baseball is a very slow game, I feel as if it is a game that is an acquired taste like the food steak tar-tar. Golf also falls under the same category. Football has too many rules, too much stop and go, its not fast paced enough. The only other sport that I can compare to basketball is soccer, but in soccer only a few times in a game does a person score, that's no fun. Basketball is and always will be one of my passions not only because of how exhilarating it is while playing, but the history behind the creation of this amazing sport.

Basketball is one of the most internationally played sports in the world. From New York to London, to Paris, to Beijing. It's played in the city parks of New York to the dusty plains of Africa, and the expensive courts in America. The game is played with anything that represents a ball, and a mounted circular ring. Unlike other sports basketball doesn't require much, all you need is a few teammates and willingness to play.

The first type of basketball to be played may have been played by the Olmec people of ancient Mexico as early as 500 years ago. The Aztec, and Mayan cultures also had a similar sport where they would use the skull of their conquered foes. Basketball was truly born on January 20th, 1892 by John Naismith in Springfield Massachusetts. Naismith invented the game for the YMCA as a game to be played during the winter. Naismith wrote simple rules for the game and nailed two peach baskets on opposite sides of the court. The first game ever consisted of 18 players, or nine to a team. They used a soccer ball since the basketball was not designed or invented at this point. The concept of the game was very foreign to the players and after the final 30 minutes the score was 1-0. William R. Chase was the first person to a score a "bucket" ever in basketball history.

Naismith revolutionized the athletic world forever after came up with this idea of "basketball". Basketball has become one of the most renowned sports in the world and continues to thrive and prosper. I believe the world would not be the same without this sport, the term "slam dunk" is one of the most commonly used phrases and could not have been coined without the invention of this sport.